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Manufacturing
Processes
DFM
Design for manufacture
01
Planning for accuracy and efficiency through testing and prototyping
When designers go from concept stage to manufacture, there often is a need to alter the original concept form of the product. This often comes down to regulations on how a product must function, safety and importantly how the product will be manufactured.
To make the manufacturing process as smooth as possible, we utilize rapid prototyping as an initial tool to visualise the product before it is manufactured. With products under stress, taking advantage of topology optimization can reduce costs for the manufacturer and reduce waste of material. Alongside this, optimization can lead to more simple and organic structures. Once manufacturing begins, tools such as jigs and templates become essential for quality control and repeatability. These tools are used across the board, regardless of the scale of production.
The approach to adapting your design depends on the scale at which the product will be produced. For Lumen Lamps the scale at which the LUXIO was originally produced was a One-off production, with all aspects of the design tailored to the primary stakeholder. This process can be extrapolated to batch production through the use of quality control equipment.
Assuming that Lumen Lamps was to theoretically take its lamp to a mass production environment, a couple of adjustments would need to made to better suit the manufacturing style. To simplify the process, we utilize as many standardized components as possible and reduce the number of parts overall in the lamp. The lamp base is the only wooden component in the entire product. Primarily, skilled workers would operate a wood lathe to convert a wooden blank into the desired shape. In a continuous production environment, this would be a slow, inaccurate and costly process. For repeatability and precision, our solution is to use an automated CNC wood lathe.
Our application of standardized components is not only limited to nuts and bolts but actually encompasses parts of the lamp's armature too. The lamp's arms are composed of bought-in standard aluminium tubes. Tubes come at the right length in their stock form. The only process that is occurs to the tubes is a small amount of material trimmed off the end and a brushed finish.
The connecting structures that are used to assemble the rods are made from solid cast aluminum. The initial costs of casting machinery are high but due to the low melting point of aluminum compared to other metals, and the repeatability of the process, large scale production with this technique is trivialized.
02
Adapting for Scale of production
03
Product Life
Even in use, a product is still affected by how it was originally manufactured. We are aware that material our lamp comprises of decides its lifespan.
Again we look to the context and to how the lamp will be operated do come to reasonable material conclusions. For example, in a high stress scenario, certain engineering principles will have to be taken into account to avoid phenomena such as metal fatigue which can ruin anything from paperclips to connecting rods - drastically different scenarios. The LUXIO, of course, does not need to handle great loads other than its own weight and the forces applied to adjust its positioning when in use. For this reason, we have opted to use Aluminium as opposed to steel and to use casting as our method of production.
Another strong consideration to be made is the circuitry inside the product. Electronics are a common source of breakages and short lifespans in goods. To combat this, our lamps function on LEDs which not only have the advantage of being much more efficient than filament and fluorescent options- but, also have a longer lifespan and colour changing capability.
Good maintenance of the LUXIO lamp ensures longevity and consistent functionality throughout it's lifespan. The largest factors that reduce the usable life are damage due to moisture and damage due to collisions. These can be avoided by keeping the product indoors and by placing the lamp on a secure flat surface at all times.
We have avoided the use of coatings and other types finishes that prevent the product from being easily repaired. This has no real effect on the product aesthetic and alongside the modular design ethos serves to make the lamp more easy to restor without expert knowledge.
04
Repair and Maintenance
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